Category Client Work

Show off your brand personality

March 28, 2023 0 Comments read Blog, Client Work, Marketing, Showcase

How can brands show off their unique personalities? One way is by showcasing the people who together make the company special. Over the past few years, I’ve been working with Port Property and the creative team at Longfellow Communications to capture personality portraits of their employees.

As an operator of rental and commercial properties in Maine and North Carolina, Port Property’s staff interacts with their clients on a daily basis. They are, essentially, the company brand. When Port Property decided to rebrand a few years ago, they opted for two styles of staff portraits: one, a more traditional headshot portrait and the other that aimed to capture the personality of each person in a unique way. They asked each person to bring some physical item signifiying their answer to the question, “Home is…..”. Everyone on the team—accountants, property managers and the maintenance crew—took part.

The result is far from the typical corporate portrait. Instead, it reveals real people, with real lives, and gives the company a dynamic and fun vibe.

I had a lot of fun doing this ongoing project and think it’s a simple but impactful way to impart a human touch to a company brand.

© Brian Fitzgerald

Showcase: York County Community College

February 28, 2023 0 Comments read Blog, Client Work, Editorial, On Location, Showcase

YVCC — *York County Community College, © Brian Fitzgerald*

Over the past few years, I’ve worked with the Maine Community College System (MCCS) to highlight the workforce training programs at their seven campuses across Maine. These programs are designed and targeted to the needs of employers in Maine and are often a pipeline directly to well-paying professional jobs immediately upon graduation. Programs are diverse, ranging from nursing and culinary arts to project management and Amazon Web Services (AWS). The list is endless and always changing to adapt to the needs of the state’s employers.

We highlighted a few of the workforce development programs at York County Community College last year and tried to also capture some of the sense of community and connection between students and their faculty. It was a great opportunity to tell a story about a Maine institution that offers such incredible value to the community.

*York County Community College, © Brian Fitzgerald*

New England Hyperbaric Oxygen

April 19, 2022 0 Comments read Assignments, Blog, Client Work, Marketing

We recently completed video production for New England Hyperbaric Oxygen. Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy (HBOT) involves the use of a special pressurized chamber to heal the body. It’s often used for wound healing, but also to treat traumatic brain injuries like concussion from sports or accidents.

We produced a series of videos showing the process at work as well as hearing from patients who continue to use the treatment to great success. In addition, we produced an instructional video for use with patients who use portrable chambers at home. Lastly, we created several short video stories for Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter so that New England Hyperbaric Oxygen could release those as part of their reveal campaign.

Although the long-form videos will be released later this year, I’m able to share an example of the short, 30-second social media video used for Instagram now.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Port. Chiropractic Neurology (@portlandchiropracticneurology1)

Showcase: InterMed, PA Portraits

April 5, 2022 0 Comments read Assignments, Blog, Case Studies, Client Work

I’m happy to share some environmental portraits I created recently of new InterMed CEO Roger Poitras, along with his executive team. InterMed is one of Maine’s largest doctor practices and operates primary care facilities in South Portland, Yarmouth and Portland. The assignment was to capture environmental portraits of Poitras that incorporated aspects of InterMed’s landmark Marginal Way building.

InterMed executive leadership team (l-r) Stephanie Peters, Bill Ferentz, Roger Poitras and Stephanie Mills. @Brian Fitzgerald

Showcase: H.B.Fleming Inc.

March 8, 2022 0 Comments read Assignments, Blog, Case Studies, Client Work, Mainers at Work, On Location

Portland Maine

Sometimes, the best way to get a storytelling image is to get up high. I’ve worked with South Portland-based construction company H.B. Fleming for a few years, documenting some of their impressive projects throughout Maine and New Hampshire. The scope and scale of much of the work they do—building massive retaining walls and cofferdams, for example—are most apparent when viewed from above. In 2020 Fitzgerald Photo became a FAA-certified commercial drone operator. We’ve since been using drones for photography and video production for clients throughout New England. I’m happy to share some images from recent H.B. Fleming projects.

Construction Workers

Showcase: Rwanda Bean Coffee Company

August 25, 2021 0 Comments read Assignments, Blog, Client Work, On Assignment, Showcase

Rwanda Bean Coffee

I’m happy to share an image I took for the cover of Down East Magazine‘s August 2021 Food & Drink section. This was part of a feature on Maine’s Rwanda Bean Company, which operates three locations including the newest on Portland’s Thompson’s Point.

I was envisioning rich dark coffee beans softly lit with warm early morning window light. Unfortunately, my assignment was scheduled just after noon on a gloomy, cloudy day. The only way I could get the image that I most wanted was to create an early-morning sun look, using lights placed outside the shop, shining through the windows with warming gels attached. You’d never know that it was threatening to rain outside. Sometimes as a photographer, you need a little morning to go with your coffee.

Ben and Danielle Graffius at the newly-opened Rwanda Bean Roastery and Espresso Bar at Thompson’s Point in Portland, ME. The two are business partners with founder Mike Mwendata.

Showcase: Mad Patti Hat Co.

June 14, 2021 0 Comments read Assignments, Blog, Client Work, Editorial, Inspire Maine, Mainers at Work

Mad Patti Hat Co

A couple of months ago, just as the weather was warming up and widespread vaccinations were becoming the norm, I met and photographed Meg Patti, owner of Mad Patti Hat Company, at her studio in Brunswick, ME for the June issue of Down East Magazine.

Meg is a hat maker, which is kind of like saying Tesla is involved in the transportation business. While true, it doesn’t capture the detailed craftsmanship or the unique, one-of-a-kind hats that Patti hand-makes and ships to clients throughout the United States.

Part of her unique process is to ‘age’ each hat, giving each–as she says–their own stories. Lucky for me, that process involves at one stage the strategic application of fire to burn off the wool peach fuzz and create other effects that, once applied, make each hat a one-off instance of wearable art.

The profile is featured in the June, 2021 edition of Down East Magazine. Watch the video below to hear Patti talk about her creative process.

Hatmaker

Showcase: ReEnergy biomass energy producer

March 23, 2021 0 Comments read Annual Report, Assignments, Blog, Client Work, Industrial

Last fall, I spent a few days photographing several biomass facilities for ReEnergy Holdings, an energy producer based in New York. I’ve worked with ReEnergy for several years to create a library of images for use in their ongoing marketing efforts. The idea was to photograph their facilities and the work being done there in a way that captured the mood, atmosphere and scale of their various locations throughout New England. I love being able to show the gritty details of hard work through commercial and industrial photography. My approach is to keep things as authentic and real as possible while adding light in a believable way, in order to augment and help tell the story. As with all such work, time is always at a premium and the ability to be efficient and focused is absolutely critical.

biomass worker

Power Generator

power worker

Energy worker

biomass

Energy Worker

Energy worker

Maine Gives Back, 2020 Edition

November 10, 2020 0 Comments read Assignments, Blog, Client Work, Editorial, Mainers at Work, On Assignment, On Location

Linda Holtslander, 77, Preble Street Resource Center volunteer. ©Brian Fitzgerald

Fundamentally, making a difference starts with doing something that has an impact on someone else. This may entail something huge and world-changing (think of something like Matt Damon’s Water.Org), but more typically it’s a small kindness, a comment, a small gesture extended from one person to another. Small acts of this sort occur all around us, and they usually remain unseen and unknown except by those directly involved.

That’s why I loved being part of Down East Magazine’s annual “Maine Gives Back” feature published this November. I got to meet and photograph three remarkable Mainers whose efforts are changing the lives of others: 77-year-old soup kitchen volunteer Linda Holtsinger, who despite the pandemic never misses a day of volunteering; Rose Barboza, a mother who decided to create the nonprofit website Black Owned Maine as her contribution to racial and social justice; and Elizabeth McLellan, whose Portland-based nonprofit Partners for World Health distributes donations of needed medical supplies around the world.

Truly one of those assignments that energizes me and makes me feel better about humanity in general. Below are some of my images used in the issue, but read about many others in the November 2020 Down East Magazine feature, “Maine Gives Back”.

Elizabeth McLellan in a warehouse filled with medical supplies destined for countries in need around the world. © Brian Fitzgerald

Rose Barboza, founder of Black Owned Maine. © Brian Fitzgerald

Showcase: Work Lifestyle Shoot, Dunham Group

September 14, 2020 0 Comments read Assignments, Blog, Client Work, On Assignment, Showcase

Tech Company — Guideline | © Brian Fitzgerald

I’m happy to be able to show some of the work I did for NAI The Dunham Group and agency East Shore Studio & Print this past year. The goal was to feature the commercial spaces of actual Dunham clients for an ongoing ad campaign. Rather than photographing static rooms devoid of people, we tried to show how the spaces enable each business to do optimal work and thrive.

When the ostensible subject of a photo shoot is an inanimate object (like a building, a space or a product), or some generic concept —technology services or real estate, for example—the best way to provide emotional connection is to show how the object, space or concept actually impacts people. People just like you and me. Every good sales professional knows: focusing on features rather than benefits leads to more sales. If you can show how something benefits people—or changes their lives, for better or worse—you create a more powerful, resonant image in people’s minds that stays with them.

These are just simple images, but the concept and the goal are the same. The following are part of the ad campaign, showing people at work in some prominent and growing Maine companies. Two of those companies (clothing maker American Roots, of Westbrook and outdoor gear manufacturer Flowfold, of Gorham), have pivoted during the pandemic to produce PPE—protective gear-—for front-line workers and individuals. The other is Guideline, a 401(k) technology solutions provider.

Clothing Manufacture — American Roots and Flowfold © Brian Fitzgerald

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